Listening to Michelle Branch

What a cutie. =3

You Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!

Recently I've picked a new card to be overly passionate about.

Crazy. And designed by Richard Garfield himself.

So what of it? Well, most people think of self-milling interactions when looking at it.

I think that's over-thinking. We have far more effective ways of emptying our library: Hermit Druid and Oath of Druids where available. Alternatively, it's hard to beat Dredge in raw efficiency even without Bazaars of Baghdad. Hell, Traumatize yourself even, if you're that desperate.

What do I think of when I see this guy? I think Morphling, an evasive 4 turn 3UU clock that is highly versatile and near-invulnerable. With its psuedo-phasing ability, it can kill a 5 toughness defender and come back again, it's virtually immune to targeted removal, it can attack and defend, and if you can flip a Deep Analysis in the process, all the better.

Of course, Morphling himself has been rendered unplayable by M10 combat rules, this from the best blue creature prior to Psychatog. Same with Mirror-Mad, Squadron Hawk can wall this guy all day.

Viability ruined.

Day ruined.

I haven't been this upset about new combat rules since M10 came out.

How easy is it to build aggro?

I had a theory.

That you could build a solid aggro deck out of grizzly bears without much thinking. Not actual Grizzly Bears mind you, but there are a lot of creatures with abilities on a grizzly body.

18 Forest
4 Vivid Grove
4 Wonder
2 Wilt-Leaf Liege
4 Fauna Shaman
4 River Boa
4 Selesnya Guildmage
4 Kavu Titan
4 Wild Mongrel
4 Basking Rootwalla
4 Giant Growth
4 Bonesplitter

My "bears" are twenty 2 power, 2cc creatures. River Boa is the classic anti-control clock. Selesnya, Wilt-Leaf and Wonder gives the ability to break through stalls. Titan will keep you in the mid-game. Rootwallas smooth out the curve and also make Mongrel/Shaman fodder.

This will goldfish 20 damage on 6th turn consistent. Not fast (the 2cc really hurts its speed), but I'd say better than most non-tribal casual creature decks.

Now you keep the principals the same, swap some Mongrels for Tarmagoyfs, Rootwallas for Nacatls, Bonesplitters for Jittes, et cetra and you end up with...Legacy Zoo.

K.I.S.S.

Now let me tell you about Legacy Burn...

Gating

I designed a Magic deck at work today:

23 Lands: 2 Island 2 Swamp 6 Onslaught cyclers 13 basic forest/plains
4 Aluren
4 Wall of Blossoms
4 Wall of Omens
4 Squadron Hawk
4 Selesnya Guildmage
4 Wirewood Savage
4 Cavern Harpy
1 Cloud of Faeries
4 Yavimaya Elder
4 Soul Warden

It's not resilient at all so that'll need work and I'm not sure it's consistent, though it should be with 16 cantrips, 6 cyclers and 4 Squadron Hawks. That mana curve is lovely though.

I should get MWS to playtest.

Academy Rector seems like a natural fit but those feel expensive. Other than Alurens, everything else should be dirt cheap in this list.

Now if you're wondering how I could look up cards at work, I didn't. I just happened throw this together off the top of my head...dododododoo...

update: Okay I can win 4th turn but more like 7th-ish turn consistent. I really don't know how to modify it because it's already made up of very good cards.